GLENDALE, Ariz. — After more than 800 victories, two national championships and enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, feisty Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun finds himself in the toughest scrap of his career, and questions if it’s worth the fight.
In a rambling, self-pitying defense of a UConn program that must answer serious charges of recruiting violations as the Huskies seek a berth in the Final Four, Calhoun suggested the faculty wants all his players to be Rhodes Scholars, boosters would cut a teenager for missing free throws, critics expect him to always act like Gentleman Jim, and it’s impossible for any coach to keep up with every rule in the book.
“You are not going to please all those people,” Calhoun said Friday, with his top-seeded Huskies playing under the shadow of a looming NCAA investigation.
Calhoun sounded like a grumpy old man shaking a fist at a world he no longer recognizes. If all the hassles of being a basketball icon finally pushed North Carolina legend Dean Smith from the bench, then Calhoun feels justified asking: How hefty a price should any coach pay for his love of the game?
“My point is, after a while, all the other stuff can get to you,” Calhoun said.
Under the harsh light of scrutiny that makes Calhoun appear older than his 66 years as he endures the 2 4/7 television crawl that alleges a proud UConn program cheated, you wonder how much stomach this coach has for restoring a reputation marred regardless of what an NCAA investigation might ultimately find.
“Would I like everybody in the world to have faith and confidence in me and maybe give this a shot? Yeah,” said Calhoun, wondering aloud why folks don’t cut a coach of his stature a break. But, with the sadness of a beaten warrior in his eyes, the embattled coach quickly answered his own question: “That’s not the nature of the way things are.”
While basketball beasts from the Big East Conference such as UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Villanova threaten to turn the Final Four into their own private party, the real story of this NCAA Tournament is an emerging, sordid tale that dumps scum in everybody’s office pool.
How did a former student manager named Josh Nochimson seize the power and influence to become the agent for fellow UConn alum Richard Hamilton, only to get accused of stealing perhaps $1 million from the Detroit Pistons guard, yet still be trusted enough by the Huskies coaching staff to receive hundreds of phone calls during the recruitment of prep prospect Nate Miles?
Something stinks in Storrs, Conn.
NCAA hounds are on the scent, thanks to a lead from a Yahoo! Sports report.
Right now, it’s hard to envision how Calhoun comes out of this mess squeaky clean, and he blames the NCAA for having too many rules.
“Do you think every NCAA investigator knows what’s in every one of those 508 pages? You think so?” Calhoun said.
In the Internet age, a scandal moves at warp speed, and the shadow of doubt can smear the merits of a 37-year coaching career in a single news cycle.
Instant messages have begat snap judgments in the court of public opinion.
Calhoun is battler enough to be a cancer survivor and bully enough to derisively refer to coaching rival John Calipari as “Johnny Clam Chowder.” The same fire that stokes the passion in Calhoun’s heart can make him a hothead who will pick a fight with a media foil. The coach put UConn on the map, and made NBA stars such as Ray Allen rich beyond dreams.
“I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” Calhoun said.
Guilty or innocent, Calhoun deserves nothing less than a fair chance to defend the work that has defined his life.
Win today against Missouri in the West, and the scrutiny of Calhoun only figures to grow more intense at the Final Four.
So I asked Calhoun: Do you think you have become a distraction to this UConn basketball team?
“No, I don’t at all,” Calhoun replied.
For all our new technology, the wheels of justice turn slowly.
At age 66, does Calhoun have the time, strength and heart to wait for a full accounting of the truth?
He has the look of a man struggling for the words to say goodbye to something he loves.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
